HOWDY, MY NAME IS BILL STRONG, I'LL BE YOUR "24 HOUR MAN", ROUTING YOU INTO THE PAST TO SEE WHAT THE CIRCUS WAS IN DAYS GONE BY. IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, AND MISS WHAT IT USED TO BE, THEN COME ON ALONG AS WE GO DOWN THE ROAD FOLLOWING THE ARROWS BACKWARDS, TO "YESTERDAY'S TOWNS"!
IF YOU HAVE CIRCUS RELATED PICTURES YOU WOULD LIKE POSTED, SEND THEM TO,,,,yesterday1@verizon.net,,,,AND WE WILL TRY TO FIT THEM IN. "24 HOUR MAN" WILL HAVE THE FINAL DECISION ON POSTING.

About Me

Three years at CWM made me a real traditionalist, and I keep remembering Bob Parkinson saying, "I want the people to see what the circus used to be, not what it is today. That's what this site is about!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

THE LaBLONDE TRIO PORTABLE GROUND BAR ACT

On the off season we still had to eat, so we would get the portable rigging out, & work Jimmy Hetzer's Christmas dates, or head North to Canada where there were still some Night Clubs, & Theaters using Novelty Acts. Montreal was wide open in the '50's, with some clubs that stayed open all night long, I can remember loading out of The Mocambo Cafe at 6:am, & there were more entertainers coming in. It was a Paradise for small acts, like Jugglers & Unicycle Acts because they could work almost anywhere, as I remember it The Cycling Kirks stayed in Montreal the whole Winter & worked all the time.

BRUCE, BILL, & BLONDIEWe had some friends that did a Ground Bar Act, & one time sort of "kidding on the square", they said we should make a deal, we wouldn't do ground bars & they wouldn't do aerial bars, so Blondie told them it was okay with him if they wanted to do aerial bars.

THE DIVEThis was not a hard trick, but could be a treacherous one to miss. George Hubler did the trick in the act, we did,(Glen Martin & Co.), me being "Co.", he missed the trick but it turned him just enough to land on his heels, severely brusing them.

STEP-A-LEAN,(in case you haven't heard)

Bruce & Tony Steel. You can see here what I was saying about Bruce's height, it was even more of a problem on this rigging, as he had to keep from hitting the other bar with his feet & also the ground, plus these bars were only 4 ft. long so he had to keep from hitting the sides when he bent his legs.

When I worked the Buffalo, N. Y. Shrine Circus in 1954, with George Hubler,(Glenn Martin & Co.), we were in a display, the other two acts were The Hanels, & I'm sure the other act was Stan Volero's(?sp)act, The Three D's. Stan also did a Sway Pole Act. Could this be the act you are referring to. At any rate, I never saw them again.